Nintendo of America is reportedly offering a free upgrade to the new Nintendo Switch model for customers who recently purchased an old Switch model. The new Nintendo Switch free upgrade would grant the new model’s increased battery life and other benefits to those who missed out on its release.
Reddit user DarthMewtwo posted about the discovery yesterday. When they called Nintendo to ask if they would be able to send their original, launch day-purchased Switch in to be exchanged for a new Nintendo Switch free upgrade, DarthMewtwo said, Nintendo denied the request. However, Nintendo did tell DarthMewtwo that they would honor a similar device swap for customers who purchased a non-upgraded Switch model after July 17. As DarthMewtwo noted, this could only be true for Nintendo of America, and has not been confirmed for other regions.
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Several others in the comments of DarthMewtwo’s Reddit post reported that they were able to confirm the Nintendo of America offer. In the same thread, user aak1992 said Nintendo offered them the swap deal but would not pay for shipping costs or insurance for aak1992’s old Switch. User vee_music confirmed that the July cut-off date means even exchanges for purchases made on July 17, not just after, will be honored. User vee_music reported that save data will not transfer between consoles, but Nintendo will let users choose which color Joy-Cons they would like for the new Nintendo Switch free upgrade (meaning the company will not give users their old Joy-Cons back).
Not to be confused with the Nintendo Switch Lite or the rumored Nintendo Switch Pro, the new Nintendo Switch model is a sort of “soft upgrade” to the base Nintendo Switch. The new Nintendo Switch’s upgraded processing chip gives the system greatly increased battery life, and the new Nintendo Switch screen is brighter and has more accurate color than the base model. To read all the details about the new version, head over to our new Nintendo Switch buying guide.
